German Pussy Riot Copycats May Face Three Years in the Slam

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On Thursday, The Local news website reported three copycats of the Russian female punk group Pussy Riot may face three years in prison after the Catholic Church pressed charges against them. The trio, who disrupted a service in the Kölner Dom on Sunday, may face a longer prison sentence than the band they support if a court charges them and finds them guilty.

According to the Frankfurter Rundschau, two young men and a young woman wearing balaclavas… similar to ones Pussy Riot wore during their blasphemous action in Moscow’s central Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in February… tried to disrupt a church service. The trio, who carried a banner reading “Free Pussy Riot”, distributed flyers and shouted. Security guards led them out of the cathedral. The Local quoted Robert Kleine, the cathedral’s dean, as saying in Frankfurter Rundschau, “They disturbed the peace of the Kölner Dom… we can’t and won’t accept this. The right to demonstrate can’t be set above the right to religious freedom and the religious feelings of the congregation”. Now, the state could prosecute the three unnamed activists for a breach of the peace and disrupting the free practise of religion, which is punishable by a maximum prison sentence of up to three years, or a fine. A Berlin man received a nine-month prison sentence in 2006 when he disrupted a service on German Unity Day.

An edited clip of Pussy Riot’s protest posted online showed the group alternately high-kicking and crossing themselves near the entrance to the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, to accompany the song Holy Shit urging the Virgin Mary to “drive out” President Vladimir Putin. The song contained words insulting to Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias and to all believers. A Moscow court found three band-members guilty of hooliganism and each received a two years’ prison sentence on 17 August. This attracted both media attention and international criticism, which Moscow dismissed as “groundless” saying the band’s act was not an issue of artistic performance but was “insulting to millions of Orthodox [Christian] believers”.

23 August 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/society/20120823/175396962.html

Editor’s Note:

Here’s the REAL DEAL. Firstly, former-NYC Mayor Ed Koch weighed in:

I don’t believe the issue is properly one of freedom of expression. The right to free expression isn’t unlimited, and it doesn’t mean one can say anything anywhere and at anytime. Furthermore, Russia and most countries don’t have embedded in their law the Constitutional protection of the First Amendment that we do. I, for one, am delighted they now punish religious hatred. Aren’t you?

Next, Vlad Legoida, HH’s Communications Director, gave his two bits:

The inspiration to cut down the cross didn’t come from nowhere. Those who declare that the limitless creative freedom of the artist is always right prepared the ground for this. Alas, amongst them are respectable journalists, experts, writers, and musicians… who fight for the freedom to insult and mock. This, I repeat, isn’t just a trivial anti-Church campaign; it’s a demand for the dismantling of Christian civilisation. … We don’t want to leave our children a society built on lies and hatred, a society that has no fear of the consequences of its actions, a society that glorifies the haters of the Christian faith.

Now, some crazies decided to provoke the Krauts. That’s a wrong move, if there ever were such. Trust me… if they violated a statute, and they did, they’re going to face a German court that’s not going to count the political cost the way the Russian leadership did. All that they’re going to ask is, “Did these jabronies break the law?” If the answer’s “yes”, they’re going to the slam tout suite, and no one’s gonna cry, either (and it’ll be done in a flash… even faster than they do it in Lubbock).

The shoe DOES pinch when its one’s own foot, doesn’t it?

BMD